A rural development strategy for the Apuseni Mountains, Romania

The Apuseni Mountains, part of the Western Carpathians, are distinctive in cultural terms because of the highly dispersed settlement patterns that have developed on the high erosion surfaces where the Moti people cleared the forests to allow for an expansion of family farming in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These small ‘crang’ settlements remain, but the population is declining in the face of limited employment opportunities and poor services. The question arises as to the most appropriate rural development strategy for the region, following the communist period which encouraged centralisation through the provision of housing and industry in key villages and new towns. The emphasis on private farming and the expansion of tourism could protect the inherited cultural landscape but money must be found to improve rural services. There is also a strong conservation movement which supports the establishment of a national park, but this could constrain development through controls on grazing and woodcutting. Hence the dialogue continues to find the best compromise and the concept of a ‘natural park’ is being discussed with such a reconciliation in mind. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Methodological problems of intercultural comparisons of retail environments

The internationalising activities of retailers have tended to precede the theoretical contributions of academics. This is particularly the case for the cultural context within which retail internationalisation takes place. Following an examination of the growth of international retailing activity, the article reviews generic difficulties in studying inter-cultural differences before considering the specific steps which retail practitioners have taken to understand the comparative characteristics of retail and consumer markets through the growth of geodemographic and lifestyle analysis. Finally, we relate one of the most significant integrative intercultural theoretical instruments to the case of retail internationalisation within Western Europe. We find that significant insights into retailer behaviour and strategy can be gained from an understanding of the culturally-specific characteristics of the activity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A modeling of the structure and favorable H-docking sites and defects for the high-pressure silica polymorph stishovite

Employing first-principles methods, the docking sites for H were determined and H, Al, and vacancy defects were modeled with an infinite periodic array of super unit cells each consisting of 27 contiguous symmetry nonequivalent unit cells of the crystal structure of stishovite. A geometry optimization of the super-cell structure reproduces the observed bulk structure within the experimental error when P1 translational symmetry was assumed and an array of infinite extent was generated. A mapping of the valence electrons for the structure displays mushroom-shaped isosurfaces on the O atom, one on each side of the plane of the OSi₃ triangle in the nonbonded region. An H atom, placed in a cell near the center of the super cell, was found to dock upon geometry optimization at a distance of 1.69 Å from the O atom with the OH vector oriented nearly perpendicular to the plane of the triangle such that the OH vector makes a angle of 91° with respect to [001]. However, an optimization of a super cell with an Al atom replacing Si and an H atom placed nearby in a centrally located cell resulted in an OH distance of 1.02 Å with the OH vector oriented perpendicular to [001] as observed in infrared studies. The geometry-optimized position of the H atom was found to be in close agreement with that (0.44, 0.12, 0.0) determined in an earlier study of the theoretical electron density distribution. The docking of the H atom at this site was found to be 330 kJ mol^–1 more stable than a docking of the atom just off the shared OO edge of the octahedra as determined for rutile. A geometry optimization of a super cell with a missing Si generated a vacant octahedra that is 20% larger than that of the SiO₆ octahedra. The valence electron density distribution displayed by the two-coordinate O atoms that coordinate the vacant octahedral site is very similar to those displayed by the bent SiOSi angles in coesite. The internal distortions induced by the defect were found to diminish rather rapidly with distance, with the structure annealing to that observed in the bulk crystal to within about three coordination spheres.     

Modeling the cyclic swelling pressure of mudrock using artificial neural networks

The stochastic nature of the cyclic swelling behavior of mudrock and its dependence on a large number of interdependent parameters was modeled using Time Delay Neural Networks (TDNNs). This method has facilitated predicting cyclic swelling pressure with an acceptable level of accuracy where developing a general mathematical model is almost impossible. A number of total pressure cells between shotcrete and concrete walls of the powerhouse cavern at Masjed–Soleiman Hydroelectric Powerhouse Project, South of Iran, where mudrock outcrops, confirmed a cyclic swelling pressure on the lining since 1999. In several locations, small cracks are generated which has raised doubts about long term stability of the powerhouse structure. This necessitated a study for predicting future swelling pressure. Considering the complexity of the interdependent parameters in this problem, TDNNs proved to be a powerful tool. The results of this modeling are presented in this paper.     

承德避暑山庄砂岩文物的基本性质和风化机理

世界文化遗产地承德避暑山庄内有大量的砂岩文物。在长期风化作用下,很多砂岩文物发生了严重的风化病害,亟须保护。通过现场调查,发现避暑山庄砂岩文物的风化病害主要为开裂、剥落、粉化、生物寄生等。通过室内测试,得出了该砂岩的矿物学、岩石学性质和物理、力学性质。在此基础上,分析了该砂岩的风化机理,认为钙质胶结物的溶解、干湿交替和盐分结晶膨胀是造成该砂岩粉化、剥落风化的主要原因。相关研究为该砂岩文物的修复保护提供科学支撑。     

A political-cultural map of Europe. Family structures and the origins of differences between national political cultures in the European Union

Differences between the national political cultures of the European states are puzzling. They are too often taken for granted or treated as an elusive explanation for residual differences that can not be accounted for in comparative politics. Here they are put at the core of a comparative analysis. This article explores the origins of differences between national political cultures. It deals with national political cultures from the perspective of Cultural Theory or grid-group analysis. A national political culture is conceived as a ‘conversation’ between subcultures associated to national political institutions and practices (and not as an aggregated pattern of individual orientations toward political objects). National political cultures can be characterised on the basis of ideal typical patterns of relations between the basic cultures or rationalities distinguished by Cultural Theory. After an assessment of the differences between the national political cultures of the Member States of the European Union, the paper considers traditional family structures as possible sources of differentiation, elaborating upon the work of the French political historian Emmanuel Todd who has documented the correspondence between the geography of traditional family structures and the geography of ideologies in Europe. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

贵州喀斯特聚落文化类型及其特征研究

从喀斯特环境人地关系的角度出发,探讨贵州喀斯特聚落文化的组成因子和文化层;依据地域分异规律、相似性原则、综合分析原则,将贵州喀斯特聚落文化分为谷地聚落、半坡村聚落、溪边村聚落、丘原区聚落、洞穴聚落和屯堡聚落六种主要类型。谷地聚落因峰丛洼地环境容量小,形成散珠状小聚居的形态和独特的垦殖文化景观;半坡村聚落因喀斯特山地环境的影响,形成依山而建、聚族而居、典型的吊脚楼民居建筑等特征;溪边村聚落因峰林坝地环境容量较大,沿河形成串珠状聚族而居的形态;丘原区聚落因丘原盆地环境容量大、地域环境开放,形成多民族杂居、村寨密集分布、文化交融强等特征;洞穴聚落因岩洞环境的特殊性,形成依洞而建的小聚居形态;屯堡聚落因喀斯特环境和历史的影响,形成典型的集聚型村落,将石文化、江南文化、军事文化有机结合。通过探讨各类型聚落文化在聚落规模、聚落布局、聚落环境、建筑、生活习俗等方面的特征,可为合理开发贵州喀斯特聚落文化提供依据。     

自然金—银类质同象系列矿物晶胞参数变化规律及其表述方程

本文提出了自然金-银类质同象系列矿物的晶胞参数与金、银原子数百分比成二次函数关系,推导出了表示二者之间函数关系的方程式。利用该方程式,可以用金原子数百分比计算出晶胞参数,反之亦然。并且从金、银二者的电负性出发,对a值的变化作了解释。     

BP网络在位场解释中的应用

介绍了ＢＰ网络的特点，阐述了它在位场资料解释中应用的方法、特点和可行性。通过模型计算证实了该方法在位场异常识别中的效果，正确率达９７％。此外，通过修改网络单元的激发函数，增强网络的稳定性和内插功能，使ＢＰ网络在多层密度界面反演中得到满意的结果，模型和实例计算证明了该方法的有效性。     

粉煤灰湿陷变形的三轴试验和计算

采用双压力室三轴仪对粉煤灰试样进行了单线法湿陷试验,研究了在静水压力作用以及在不同应力状态和应力水平下粉煤灰湿陷变形的规律,得出了粉煤灰湿陷变形的经验计算公式.提出了计算粉煤灰地基湿陷变形的"全应变曲线"增量有限元法.基于本文的试验结果,对一个粉煤灰地基的湿陷变形进行了有限元计算.